the prime minister has promised that
hundreds of thousands of people will be
given the coronavirus vaccine
every day from next week with the army
being brought in to help keep up the
pace of the rollout across the uk
almost one and a half million people
have already been vaccinated
boris johnson said every elderly care
home resident will be offered the
vaccine by the end of this month
here's our medical editor fergus wash so
you're going to be famous today
it is the biggest immunization program
ever
in the nhs this medical practice near
edinburgh
became one of the first in scotland to
administer
the oxford astrazeneca vaccine to scores
of the over 90s it's exciting it's
um it feels like your party history you
feel as if it's like christmas time
it just gives us hope for the future
that we can help
our patients and it just gives us the
light at the end of the tunnel
those who received it will need to
maintain social distancing they won't be
fully protected but there's a strong
mood of optimism here
it's going to make a tremendous
difference make me
feel more comfortable going out to the
shops for shopping and things like that
you know
but it's not all gone smoothly cues of
up to three hours were reported
yesterday
at this vaccination center in clandino
in north wales
the health board apologized saying the
training of new vaccinators
led to the delays
the health secretary matt hancock was
due to see patients receiving the oxford
vaccine
at a gp surgery in london but the
delivery
was delayed supplies have been promised
to practices across england
the prime minister said it was a
national challenge like never before
but everything was being thrown at it
there's going to be lumpiness and
bumpiness in the in the distribution and
uh
today uh it may be that some gps aren't
getting the consignments
uh that they expected uh i know that
other gps i certainly know from
firsthand experience other gps
are doing an incredible job of getting
those jabs into into people's arms the
government aims to offer a first dose of
copied vaccine
to all those in the top four priority
groups
by mid-february top of the list are
people who live
or work in care homes for the elderly
then come the over 80s and front line
health and social care workers next on
the priority list
are the over 75s and then the over 70s
and those deemed extremely clinically
vulnerable
who've been shielding for much of the
pandemic
the uk has immunized more people than
the rest of europe
combined mass coveted vaccination
centers like this one
at derby arena will help boost delivery
but we're still a long way from the
target of offering
2 million doses a week to meet the goal
of 15 million people by mid-february
fergus wash there well it comes as the
uk recorded
its second highest daily death toll
since the pandemic began
these are the latest government figures
there were 52
618 new coronavirus infections recorded
in the latest 24-hour period
the average number of new cases reported
per day in the last week is now
57 234.
on average there were 27 983
covet 19 patients in hospital in the
last week
1 162 deaths were reported that's people
who died within 28 days
of a positive covid19 test and the
second highest figure
since april it means on average in the
past week
714 deaths were announced every day
it takes the total number of deaths so
far across the uk to seventy eight
thousand
five hundred and eight well the head of
nhs england has warned that every region
now has
more cover patients in hospital than at
the peak in april
so simon stevens said ten 000 people had
been admitted to hospital since
christmas day alone
our health correspondent dominic hughes
reports on the intense pressure
hospitals are under at the norfolk and
norwich university hospital
they're treating one of their own
emergency department nurse estrella
catalan
is now a patient desperate to return to
work
but still fighting the virus i want to
help
i don't know when i don't mind working
and
i'm doing a relationship to help
the trust but i'm here so patient and
helpless for estrella's colleagues
these have been some of the toughest
days every single member of the nhs
staff
is going through so much i mean you're
everywhere is understaffed everywhere is
getting put through all this we're all
at risk we're all coming into work and
putting ourselves at risk and our
families and it's
and it's all for for the patients
the pressure on hospitals is now so
great there's a danger some
could become covered only sites already
in london
more than half of patients are being
treated for the coronavirus
some non-urgent routine operations have
already been cancelled including even
some cancer treatments but this virus
has spread
far beyond london and the south east
services right across the country
are now being stretched to the limit and
beyond there are hospitals who that are
right right on the brink some of them
are sort of over that now
uh and we've just got to hope that the
whole of the nhs doesn't hit the brink
at the same time
otherwise we won't cope if it did what
would that look like
it would look like a very very bad
winter there'd be ambulances queuing
outside
uh unable to offload patients there
would be patients on trolleys and
corridors
you know lots of very distressed people
both from the points of patients
relatives and staff
there are now 50 percent more covered
patients in hospital than during last
year's april peak
but at the same time the nhs is trying
to manage the usual winter pressures
whereas in april for every one
coronavirus inpatient we were looking
after
two other hospitalized patients for
other conditions
now for every one coronavirus inpatient
we're looking after three
other patients for other conditions so
the pressures are
real and they are growing the big
concern is that case numbers
are still very high and that can only
mean more admissions to come
there will be some difficult weeks ahead
dominick hughes bbc news
and fergus walsh is with me now and
there is some good news tonight and we
certainly need some good news in the
shape of new drugs
that could help save more lives
absolutely sophie we already have
one drug dexamethasone a steroid which
in trials was shown to
cut the risk of dying among the most
severely ill by a third
tonight i can tell you we have two more
drugs they're
normally used for rheumatoid arthritis
and they
cut the risk of dying by around a
quarter their tosalism
and cyrillumab they're given via a drip
and they
dampen the immune response which can go
into overdrive with covid
they were found to save in trials partly
conducted
in the nhs to save one life for every 12
covid patients treated in intensive care
and they also
speed up recovery cutting the amount of
time that patients spend
in icu by a week now the health
department says
there are supplies of the drugs
available and they'll begin
being used in intensive care immediately
now add to that
the rollout of the vaccine i think we
have to cling on to the hope that
science and medicine
will eventually get us through this our
medical editor ferguson thank you